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I have tried to block the Off Topic board a number of times. I check the box & save but when the page refreshes the box is unchecked. I REALLY want not to see what passes for intelligence on the off topic boards. I have made the suggestion that the off topic board be dropped & the main board be moderated to BUS related topics only to no avail. Please tell me how to make the block feature work so I won't have to leave here entirely. I really enjoy the bus posts!

How is it that you are accidentally having to read the off topic content?

All the thread titles have the section they belong to in the title line?

Right there it says " Politics & Other Controversial Topics "

Just don't click them? just don't read them?

What am I missing?

happy coaching!buswarrior

I really should ignore this but you asked. What you're missing is I have a low tolerance for stupidity, as defined by me. I already know I am stubborn, bull headed, intolerant, and other things that shall remain unnamed. These are personal failings that I have been unable to overcome so far, so I do my best to avoid things that tic me off.

I check this board almost very day. I log in, click on the unread posts button and scan the threads. On occasion, the topics tic me off. I put up with that on bus related posts because the reservoir of knowledge here vastly outweighs the ignorance and stupidity.

I only relate this to answer your question.

To me this is a simple thing. The Board has a feature whereby the off topic section can be ignored. I have been unable to make this feature work. I thought it may be because I am ignorant of how it functions. I posted asking for help and relating my opinion that the bus boards should be about buses only.

Nothing in your post answers my question. I am not interested in why I should not go to the off topic section. If you can help me ignore that section, I would greatly appreciated it. If you have other information concerning the ignore feature, such as, "It don't work, get over it" or "You have the wrong settings" or "It don't work for me either and I don't know why" or "You're dumber than a bag of hammers & it ain't gonna work for you", that would be helpful. I can then decide if the information here is worth the personal aggravation.

I know that if I click on an "ignore" button within a post, then all of the posts by that screen name will not show up on my end. Regardless of which section of the BBS they post. Which can be a problem, because they can be helpful on the main bus topics section, but you wouldn't know that because of the "ignore."

I wasn't aware that there may be a way to totally ignore a main topic heading and all it's posts. That's intriguing, to say the least.

I'm going to venture a guess that it's something that has to be turned on/off by the main moderator/tech guy who keeps everything working, which I think is still Phil and maybe Mike.

I'll send Phil a PM right after I post this. . . Let's give him a day or two for researching an answer?

RJ,You are correct about the disadvantages of using the "ignore" on individuals. That feature completely eliminates all of a members posts, including bus related. I have yet to find a member whose bus related posts are not helpful and/or interesting some of the time.

The board ignore feature I am addressing is found in the Profile section under Ignore Boards Preferences. It is user selectable, but it doesn't work. If that feature cannot be made to function, perhaps the board tech can modify the Show Unread Posts Since Last Visit feature to not search the Off Topic boards. That is how it is done on some other boards.

I don't read that infantile section either, but it is annoying that their post titles clutter up the bus "Unread Posts" section and I have to wade through them to see if anything important has been posted?

There is one poster who seems to be trying to add Fox and Rush to this bus board.

Well, it appears there are a few besides me that would like to block the off topic boards too. There has to be a reason why the block feature does not work.

Has anyone used the block off topic board feature successfully? If so, please provide the operating system and browser name & version you are using. I am to the point I will install whatever works.

FYI I am using XP PRO and Firefox 19.0. I have tried to block it on Internet Explorer 8.0. I also tried on a Macbook Pro running X10 (I think, not a Mac guy) and on my Iphone & Safari. Also Server 2008 w/both Firefox and IE. Windows 7 w/ Firefox 19.0. I have a Novell server I am thinking about trying but I would have to install a browser & I really don't want to do that. Haven't tried the Tor router but I don't see how that would make a difference.

Unfortunately the news is not good. The feature to block a board is an "add on" to the software that the forum runs on. A couple years ago we installed that add on and we thought "Perfect!". Sadly, although the add on installed without any errors and the controls are visible in the user's profiles, and appear to work, the setting is not saved and it isn't really blocked.

At the time Phil and I spent several evenings researching the problem and looking for answers on the software's support forum. But we were never able to get it to work. I think it may be resolved when the new version of the SMF software is in place. That project has been stalled for a while, partly due to time issues and largely due to issues with importing the current version's database into the new version. But it will be resolved as soon as it can be.

In the mean time, there is a slightly less convenient way to see new posts without seeing the offending board(s). Go directly to the All Topics board and as you go down the index, look for the little blue ovals labeled "new" next to the title of some posts. Posts with that notation have a post/reply that you have not yet seen. If you click on the the blue oval, it will go directly to the first unread reply in that thread, or the original post in the thread if you haven't looked at that thread at all yet.

Tom, I am experimenting with a way to remove specific member's access to a specific board. Please take a look around and see if you can still see the Off Topics board and whether posts from it still appear in your "unread posts" list. Reply to let me know.